Alburtis Borough Council and its police officers have stalled in negotiations for a new three-year contract and could be headed before an arbitrator to resolve salary and health care-related issues if the union does not accept the borough's proposal.

Council on Monday night said that the Alburtis Police Officers Association had not yet said whether it would accept the borough's final offer, which includes annual pay raises of up to 3.5 percent for the life of the three-year deal. The board's proposal also calls for the officers to pay 5 percent of their health insurance premiums.

Councilman David Lehr said the union was given a Monday deadline to either accept or reject his board's latest and final offer. The union, as of Tuesday, had not provided an answer. Lehr said if an agreement is not reached that the borough and union would go to arbitration for the first time in the police department's history.

Joe Vargo, the union's negotiator, said he's still awaiting a decision from the officers on whether to accept the borough's final officer. He said one of the members is on vacation and that the officers are willing to negotiate up until the time that arbitration is to begin.

"I think we're pretty close to getting it ironed out," said Vargo, a retired Allentown police officer. "I think we were pretty much on the same page with salary, and on medical we were close."

Council members, who have been negotiating with the officers since the summer, said the last offer was the best the borough could provide to the department, which has three full-time officers and six part-timers in addition to Chief Robert Palmer.

"We are proud of the police department and the job they do," Councilman Steve Hill said. "We firmly believe we gave them a fair offer."

The union's current contract expires Dec. 31. If the two sides can't reach an agreement, they are scheduled to appear before an arbitrator in April. The officers would work under the terms of the current contract until a new deal is reached.

Lehr said the final offer gives the officers two pay hike options. The first would give them 3.5 percent increases in each of the three years, in addition to the pay bumps, and would require the employees to pay 5 percent of their medical insurance premiums.

The salary increases would push the base salary for senior patrolmen — all three full-timers are senior patrolmen — to $48,173 next year, $49,858 in 2016 and $51,605 in the final year of the contract, according to figures provided by the borough.

Lehr said the dollar amount of the 5 percent contribution depends on the age of the employee and would range from about $406 to $1,100 for 2015.

The officers also would be responsible for a portion of the insurance plan's required deductible — $300 of the $2,000 deductible for single person coverage and $600 of the $4,000 deductible for family coverage.

The second option would give the officers annual 3.1 percent raises and require them to pay 5 percent toward their insurance premiums with the borough picking up all of the deductible cost.

Council members said they publicly released the contract terms because neither side invoked a confidentiality clause during negotiations.

The union initially asked for a 10 percent raise in the first year, 8 percent in the second year and 8 percent in the third.

The board made the contract offer terms public on a night when they approved a $1.5 million general fund budget that maintains the real estate tax rate of 3.83 mills — a mill is a $1 tax on every $1,000 of a property's assessed value. That means homeowners with properties assessed at $100,000 pay about $383, according to unofficial calculations.

The budget also includes a reduction in trash service bills. The quarterly rate will decrease from $84 to $74.

Borough officials said the spending plan includes a police department budget that incorporates 3.5-percent raises for the officers. Nonuniform employees will be receiving 3.1 percent hikes in 2015.

The police force is the borough's most costly department. Council earmarked $477,145 in police-related spending in 2015, or about 32 percent of the overall general fund budget.